Blooming on Ice-Scoured Shores

In all of Canada, the Plymouth gentian is found only along the shorelines of a handful of lakes in southwestern Nova Scotia. Scoured by waves and ice, this highly disturbed, low-nutrient environment is ideal for plants that do not tolerate competition from other species.

Like the similarly endangered pink coreopsis and the more common meadow-beauty, the Plymouth gentian thrives in these hostile conditions – some years, producing a profusion of beautiful pink flowers with vivid yellow centres. These plants are part of the Atlantic Coastal Plain Flora, a collection of plants found mainly on lakeshores and wetlands stretching from southwestern Nova Scotia down to Florida and Louisiana.